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Initial reports say the Rage Against The Machine song won the race by 50,000 sales for the Number One slot on the UK Christmas chart. Some commentators say the weak version of The Climb by Joe McElderry may have been HELPED by the Killing In The Name campaign.

Decline of Simon Cowell and X Factor

One outstanding feature of the #RATM campaign was the remarkable speed of response that was possible due to social media. The combination of Facebook and Twitter, plus many blogs and websites, allowed everyone to check in and find out the details.

Quick update:

Rage Against The Machine campaign raised £72,000 in one week for charity

Killing In The Name achieved the biggest first week download sales ever

There are two sides to the “rage” about the X Factor competition for the Christmas Number 1 in the UK. Some people are anti-Simon Cowell it seems, but there are other issues too. Not least being the question of musical talent.

Miley Cyrus, singer of The Climb, in Elle magazine

As seen on American Idol and now X Factor, Simon Cowell is in a deep anti-girl phase. So X Factor 2009 has been all about eliminating the girls and favouring the pretty boys. It has not mattered that the girls, especially Lucie Jones, had the best voices. Simon Cowell and his employees (sorry, the other judges) have chosen boys with little or no singing talent to get through the rounds.

The creators of the competitions against the X Factor single are talking more about music than money. Yes Simon Cowell will probably benefit whatever happens – but only in terms of money. X Factor 2009 has far greater ramifications:

zero musical integrity left for Simon Cowell

proof that Cheryl Cole is jealous of anyone with a good singing voice

proof that Dannii Minogue knows little about music

So if your vote is for musical talent, go buy Rage Against The Machine or one of the other suggestions for Christmas No.1. Anything but the limp and weak X Factor version of The Climb. Or you can buy the Miley Cyrus(photo) original of The Climb – a passionate and excellent vocal version of the song.

The signs have been there the whole season – the judges and producers on X Factor have a real problem with girls, especially any girls with talent. Although it was obvious to predict it is still a huge shame that Lucie Jones has been kicked off X Factor 2009 by the shocking actions of the judges and the producers.

Lucie Jones on X Factor 2009

Let’s look at some of the reasons:

Judges spending more time sniping at each other than supporting their competitors

Cheryl Cole’s look of envy and nasty comments against the girls

Dannii Minogue’s complete inability to choose appropriate songs

Dannii Minogue’s complete inability to speak with any knowledge or passion

the Producers continual favouritism for the boys, especially Jedward

All of which means Lucie Jones(photo) had little chance of winning X Factor 2009 but for her to be dumped so early is a sham. A huge percentage of comments on Twitter say this was unfair, even corrupt, and that many will not watch the show. They believe X Factor is a joke and has nothing to do with singing any more.